Blog

Think twice before buying these 3 essential oils

As aromatherapy has increased in popularity, so has demand for essential oils from some of the most unique plants in the world. We believe it’s a true gift to enjoy the aromas of sacred trees like Frankincense and Sandalwood, and we want aromatherapy-lovers to understand just how precious these oils are. Many of them come from plants that are not cultivated on a wide scale, but harvested from the wild, in what’s called “wildcrafting.”

Wildcrafters forage for plants in the wild and hopefully harvest them with an eye towards sustainability. This means getting to know the plant’s needs well, so that harvesting is conducted in a way that promotes survival of the population. Responsible wildcrafters avoid endangered or threatened species, limit their quantities of all other species, and often aid in propagation so as not to deplete the species or harm the ecosystem. Wildcrafting is practiced by herbalists around the world, independent workers, and often by tribal communities. It’s an important source of income for many indigenous people and small, family-owned businesses and when done in an ethical way, plant species are not harmed. Sadly, rising demand for rare essential oils has led to larger-scale harvest and production, often at the cost of precious wild populations.

Plant species that are threatened, vulnerable, or endangered should not be harvested from the wild and one step you can take to ensure that your essential oil purchases are environmentally responsible is to know the ecological status of a wildcrafted plant and avoid buying essential oils derived from wildcrafted species that are at risk. You can easily check the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species by entering the genus and species of any plant whose essential oil you are interested in buying. Here are three species of plants whose survival is in question and whose wildcrafted essential oils are currently being sold by some companies:

Boswellia sacra, known as “Sacred Frankincense”, grows in Somalia, Yemen and Oman and it does smell divine. As you may know, resins of several species of Frankincense have been used over the millennia as incense to sanctify a space for spiritual activity and meditation. This species of Frankincense is currently listed as “near threatened” so it’s time to stop supporting further decimation of this population.

Fortunately there are a few other varieties of Frankincense that yield essential oil and are stronger in number. We offer a Wildcrafted Frankincense essential oil of Boswellia carterii from Somalia; Boswellia carterii is not currently listed on the IUCN Red List. As with all wildcrafted essential oils, we recommend that you use it sparingly and treat it as the treasure it truly is so that we don’t see it join Sacred Frankincense as a species at risk. Photo at top shows one of the local wildcrafters / harvesters in Somaliland.

Rosewood, with its soft floral fragrance and skin nourishing properties, is another essential oil that has been very popular in aromatherapy for many years. Unfortunately, it is currently listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List and purchasing the wildcrafted essential oil will only contribute to its extinction.

The beautiful Rosewood essential oil we carry is not wildcrafted; rather, it’s sustainably farmed by a small distiller in Brazil who plants ten trees for every tree harvested on their tree farm. If we had been unable to locate a sustainable source, we would not be offering this essential oil.

For centuries, India’s famed Santalum album tree had provided us with the classic Sandalwood traditionally used for carving furniture and ornaments, burned as incense, and used as an essential oil in perfumery and aromatherapy. Because the best oil comes from the tree’s heartwood, it can only be extracted from mature trees of at least 25 years of age. Due to this, the population of Sandalwood trees in India has thinned rapidly in recent times, despite vigorous attempts by the government to regulate its harvesting. It is now listed by the IUCN as “vulnerable.” Of equal concern are reports that regulation of the Sandalwood industry has led to growth of a strong black market and serious human rights abuses on the part of poachers who are said to have terrorized, threatened and even murdered uncooperative villagers in some districts.

While some companies continue to sell the essential oil of Santalum album from India,the Sandalwood trade there has reportedly become so corrupt that there is reason to suspect adulteration of much of what is being sold.

We were sad to give up our beloved Indian Sandalwood essential oil, but we don’t want to contribute to continued decimation of this species, or to human rights abuses, so we now source our Sandalwood essential oil from a different species, Santalum spicatum, which is grown in Australia. The distiller who produces our Sandalwood essential oil is one of our long-time, trusted sources. They cultivate it on a small farm and plant more trees than they harvest.

Many aromatherapy enthusiasts prefer the energy of Wildcrafted essential oils because they’re organic – uncultivated, grown wild, they come straight from the source. We happen to agree – but the effect is certainly tainted once you learn that your supplier is not attuned to environmental and human rights issues. Never before have essential oils been so high in demand and so widely produced. It is our responsibility as ecologically-aware consumers to do all we can to mitigate the consequences of their production.

3 thoughts on “Think twice before buying these 3 essential oils”

I am so grateful for Artisan Aromatics products and your ecological awareness. Thank You for creating products with a conscience. I will be sure to share this article with others in hopes that they can stop supporting the endangerment of these beautiful trees as well as the black market corruption of sandalwood.

Comments & Forum Post Policy

BY CLICKING ON “I ACCEPT”, YOU WILL INDICATE YOUR AGREEMENT WITH OUR FORUM USE AGREEMENT. BY SUBMITTING ANY MATERIAL TO OUR FORUM OR BLOG, YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF OUR FORUM USE AGREEMENT.

FORUM USE AGREEMENT
Effective Date: July 28. 2016

To review material modifications and their effective dates scroll to the bottom of the page.

EcomGreen, LLC (“EcomGreen”) owns and operates this artisanessentialoils.com website business. All references to “we”, “us”, this “website” or this “site” shall be construed to mean EcomGreen. The following describes our agreement regarding posts and comments on our forum or blog (the “Forum”).

1.This legal Agreement between you and EcomGreen consists of this Forum Use Agreement, plus our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy which are incorporated herein and accessible on this site’s home page. If there is any conflict between this Forum Use Agreement and the Terms of Use, this Forum Use Agreement shall take precedence.

2.Please understand that any message posted on the Forum expresses only the views of the author of that message and does not necessarily reflect our views or the views of any other person on the Forum.

3.We require submissions stating facts to be accurate and that your opinions to be genuine and offered in good faith.

4.Posting, transmitting, promoting, using, distributing or storing content that could subject us to any legal liability, whether in tort or otherwise, or that is in violation of any applicable law or regulation, or otherwise contrary to commonly accepted community standards, is prohibited. Do not submit or include in your submissions any material from others without the express permission of the copyright holder. We will remove any offending submission at the request of the copyright owner in accordance with the DMCA Notice and policy provided in our Terms of Use.

5.We, in our sole discretion and without notice, reserve the right, but undertake no duty, to review, edit, remove or delete any material submitted as a comment to the Forum. Specifically, we reserve the right to delete or decline to post content that contains profanity; sexual content; overly graphic, disturbing or offensive material; vulgar or abusive language; hate speech, defamatory comments, or offensive language targeting any specific demographic; personal attacks of any kind; spam; promotions for commercial products or services.

6.By submitting a comment for posting, you agree that we are not responsible, and shall have no liability to you, with respect to any information or materials posted by others, including defamatory, offensive or illicit material, even material that violates this Agreement.

7.By using or submitting any information to the Forum, you agree to indemnify us, and our employees, officers, directors, associates, affiliated advertisers, and their related companies, to defend and hold each of them harmless, from any and all claims and liabilities (including attorneys fees) which may arise from your use or submission of such information.

8.We will not treat information that you post to the Forum as proprietary, private, or confidential. You grant us royalty-free, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive permission to publish, use, edit and translate your submission or any media or method now known or hereafter developed and in any way deemed appropriate by us.

Business Opportunities

About Us

100% Satisfaction

We guarantee your satisfaction with our products 100%! If you're not happy with any product for any reason, simply contact us, let us know the reason for the return.Note: Because of the need to ensure the purity of our oils, returns are never resold. Due to the limited supply, our Enfleurage oils may not be refunded.